San Jose Sharks defeat Ottawa Senators 5-1 at home

The Ottawa Senators lost 5-1 to The San Jose Sharks on Monday night at SAP Center, California. The Senators fell to 2-9-1, while the Shark improved to 2-7-3

Logan Couture, Noah Gregor, Tomas Hertl and Matt Nieto scored to help secure their home victory. Erik Karlsson made two assists and became the first NHL defenseman to reach 30 points this season. Karlsson said it was a nice home victory for his team.

Gregor scored to give the Sharks the lead with his first goal of the season. The Senators equalized but Meier put the Sharks into another lead of 2-1 with an assist from Karlsson. He stretched his point streak to four games with his ninth goal.

Nieto scored his third goal in his last four games, extending the lead to 3-1, with an assist from Matt Benning. Hertl scored with four minutes remaining in the second period. Then, the Sharks took control of the puck in the offensive zone to allow Hertl to score his fifth goal of the season. Couture’s tenth season-goal secured the Sharks’ victory with 58 seconds remaining on the clock.

“Just really proud of our guys,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “That was a great bounce-back win. I thought we got better and better as the game went on.”

On the other side, Tim Stützle was the only Senators player to score. Brady Tkachuk assisted him with the goal. In the first period, Stützle scored his sixth goal of the season to tie the game at one. Tkachuk created the opportunity with a wonderful ball from behind the net.

Cam Talbot, who started for the Senators, allowed three goals on seven shots. Anton Forsberg replaced Talbot to record 21 saves.

“There is lots of game left. There’s no time to feel sorry for yourself,” Ottawa coach D. J. Smith said. “You’ve got to pick it up. We tried, but it was just not our night.”